Harold Ipsen designs and builds a pottery kiln for his wife Lorraine, and discovers he can apply his technology to heat treating. Word quickly spreads to manufacturers about Harold Ipsen’s innovation. He later established Ipsen as a heat treating furnace manufacturer in the United States.

Ipsen operates six regional sales offices across the country staffed with engineers and metallurgists. International expansion begins with the founding of Ipsen Industries (GmbH) in Kleve, Germany, focused on manufacturing atmosphere furnaces. Ipsen Ceramics begins operations in a new, 15,000 ft² (4,572 m²) facility in Pecatonica, Illinois.

Ipsen begins manufacturing vacuum heat treating equipment for aircraft, rockets and defense applications, building the first horizontal vacuum furnace and the first top-loading vacuum furnace. The company also expands its European presence into England and France.

Ipsen’s Cherry Valley plant undergoes its fourth expansion, adding 20,000 ft² (6,096 m²) of production and warehousing space. An automated atmosphere furnace line and the first ion nitriding furnace are introduced. European expansion continues with the founding of Ipsen Industries Nordiska AB Sweden.

Ipsen rolls out several new products including the TurboTreater vacuum furnace, Ivadizer and the ToolTreater furnace. During this decade, a partnership is formed with vacuum furnace manufacturer Abar and the company becomes known as Abar Ipsen. Ipsen Germany undergoes expansion, adding 1,200 m² (3,937 ft²) of spare parts storage space, 3,000 m² (9,842 ft²) for administration, and an additional 1,500 m² (4,921 ft²) of production space.

In the early part of the decade, Ipsen Germany’s assembly halls are destroyed by a fire and a new production facility is completed and inaugurated within the same year. New facilities are established in China which offer sales and support with manufacturing operations in Shanghai. Ipsen obtains ISO 9001 certification and officially drops Abar from the company name.

Although purchased by Ipsen in the 90s, VFS (Vacuum Furnace Systems) Corporation in Souderton, Pennsylvania, adopts the Ipsen name in 2007. Today, the manufacturing facility is the world’s largest producer of vacuum furnace hot zones. Ipsen introduces Global VR, a TurboTreater unit with convection, the AvaC furnace and the TITAN furnace, a compact, global platform vacuum furnace. International operations expand to India and Japan, and Ipsen Germany celebrates 50 years in business.

Ipsen focuses on platform products by delivering the first TITAN® vacuum and ATLAS® atmosphere standard furnaces. The PdMetrics software platform launches, which integrates with the IoT and provides predictive maintenance capabilities. Worldwide activities continue to expand with the establishment of sales offices in Paris and Milan. Ipsen Germany grows with an acquisition. During this decade, Ipsen is also awarded its 10,000th new furnace contract.

Ipsen establishes two global Excellence Centers, a decision driven by demand for expanded technical services, accelerating development of new materials and consolidation of process expertise. The Atmosphere Technology Excellence Center (Germany) and Vacuum Technology Excellence Center (USA) enable faster-paced innovation and a laser-focus on performance and quality.